


When you say you love me

by ShadowSelene (Shadowdianne)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-06 16:40:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20294656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowdianne/pseuds/ShadowSelene
Summary: Loved your ABBA inspired ficlet! Since you are so good at portraying tone and just overall MOOD... how about another song fic?  “When You Say You Love Me” by Josh Groban? Asked by stregaomega an awful long time ago.





	When you say you love me

**Author's Note:**

> How many times can I write a scene wedged after the s7 finale? I don’t know but at least one more time :P

The words were nothing but a whisper. One that could have been so easily be lost to the wind that Regina felt her heart stop as she strained her ears to listen to them; drowning in them.

She had taken the earrings the second she had stepped out of the ballroom but she had held them between her fingers, the glass pressed against her flesh, as she had opened and closed the door that would lead to the highest part of the castle; the row of balconies extending in front of her as she spied the shadows that were the other castles and towns brought into by the Merge.

Crownless, Regina had been able to feel the tension that had been accumulating at the back of her head during the reception after the ceremony circle down between her shoulder blades as she had sighed into the nighttime sky. Air limpid, the brunette had allowed herself to look at the stars she could distinguish above the mix of fairy candles and modern lights that sparkled across the piece of Enchanted Forest she had been able to replicate. Those too had changed, she had denoted as she stared at the glimmering dots; each portion of the Merge bringing with it a part of their suns, their constellations. She had been able to distinguish some of course; invisible lines shooting from star to star as she had mapped the sky, but some others were vaguely familiar to her: pictures she might have seen during her time as an Apprentice under Gold’s eye.

Clenching her hands and willing the earrings to disappear, she had almost missed the sound of the wooden door being opened at her back. The palace’s roof was deserted of every guard, all of them being downstairs and so she had felt tension rising as she had readied herself to turn; her magic already cascading down her hands in titillating glitter that got barely any contrast against the blue of her dress. One that had felt constrictive as she rolled her shoulders; fabric tickling her skin where the puffs of cloth on her shoulders grazed her cheeks as she moved.

She had halted midturn, however, when her magic read the one she felt pouring out of the person who had stepped outside. She still had needed a second for her muscle memory to pick up the ozone scent and dirty white magic that crashed against her; a far too long moment perhaps since Emma had cleared her throat, nervousness obvious now, in the way her magic touched hers; familiar yet unused to such proximity.

Regina hadn’t been able to blame her: not truly, but she still had let her head fall into an angle, chin almost touching her chest as she had glanced at her fingers; at the way purple electricity ate through her skin. Painless but vicious in the way energy and want seemed to be willing to explode through her every vein.

She had hoped to see Emma in the room the second she had realized what was happening; the crown a price that had been her dream once upon a time. A time that now belonged to a very different person. The title, however, was one that had made her shiver and bite her bottom lip as Snow had held the tiara; diamonds not enough for her to not turn and search for green eyes she had found she missed in a very different way than she had expected to.

She had predicted the heartache with a very particular kind of painful accuracy, and she felt the ache once more as she had heard Emma’s breathing a few steps away, as if she was waiting, preparing, for something. Walking towards the edge of the roof, where the balustrade met her hands, she hadn’t glanced at the blonde, not even when Emma’s steps had brought her closer; the wind picking up speed as she let her eyes follow the walls of the turrets that rose a few meters away from them both.

By the time Emma spoke, Regina had readied herself to be the first one to speak; words the two of them hadn’t been able to share burning through her chest. She had wanted to say them when she had realized that Emma was indeed there, in front of her, not moving away as Regina hugged her with the celebration already underway; a difficult kind of heaviness settling on her stomach. She had wanted to ask about them the moment Emma had nodded against her shoulder; a heavy sigh breaking free when they had needed to step back into the roles that, apparently, still lingered. She had wanted to destroy them the second she had seen Emma playing with her ring; too heavy, too clunky, too imperfect, for her to wear.

Which was the reason why when she heard the words again, repeated against the wind and into the silver-hued light of the moon, Regina closed her eyes; feeling lost.

**“Don’t.”**

She didn’t dare to move, to breathe, as Emma kept on approaching, a rush of magic coming from her; the sound of the blonde’s skirt ruffling disappearing completely, the echo of recognizable boots crawling towards her ears. It still didn’t prepare her for the feeling of hands on the lower part of her back, palms flushed against her skin and radiating warmth that seeped through the flimsy fabric of the dress, through the cords that kept the ensemble together in a far too tight knot.

Rising her neck, she let her head rest against Emma’s shoulder as the blonde positioned close enough for her to feel the magic that seeped out of her; entwined, she realized, with some of the punch the fairies had produced with the aid of their wands a few hours ago.

“But I do.”

Emma’s hands traveled up as she kept her front touching Regina’s back, her index and thumb massaging where the fastened cords dug into her skin; the tugging making Regina flex and arch once more in an impulsive response.

She could feel the stars glowing brighter as her magic reached to Emma, eagerness on it despite the realization the blonde’s admission -while still a truth the two of them had known for the longest of times- wasn’t coming from an Emma who had dared to take that final step.

It hurt but Regina savored the words as she too mouthed them, matching perfectly with Emma’s voice as the blonde repeated them for a third time; stronger now as she placed her thumbs at both sides of her spine, the nerves from earlier disappearing from Regina’s mind.

It didn’t matter, the brunette realized, not thinking about the guests below them, the frantic pace Storybrooke and the Kingdoms would make her have for the next following months. It didn’t truly matter as she relished in the feeling of Emma’s touch, lips on her right temple as they dropped a kiss. One she moved away from not out of discomfort but the knowledge that with sobriety could come doubt.

It didn’t matter because she wished for the moment to last a second longer as she put her weight into Emma’s half-embrace, in the way the blonde’s magic felt against hers, rivulets and lines drawing blinking hexes over her skin. Symbols so old she suspected the Dark One’s side of the younger woman was at play.

It didn’t matter because she knew the words were as true as hers would be if she dared to speak aloud. Even if it would only be a stolen moment, a window amidst many others, the two of them would ever allow themselves to have.

And so, she let herself have the moment, letting it suck her in, fingers digging into her palms, palms that were opened when Emma moved her hands from her back, traveling down her shoulders, her arms, her wrists until they rested against her fingers. Insistent, strong.

“I love you.”

She felt the lack of a ring way too late, stars shining on Emma’s green the moment the punch wore off, night dying as the sun rose just as slowly.

“I love you. Only you.”


End file.
